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“Exercise gives you instant pep with no post-caffeine or sugar crash,” says Kelli Calabrese, personal trainer and American Council on Exercise spokesperson. Increased bloodflow also helps clear your head, and the release of pleasure chemicals such as serotonin improves your mood. Calabrese designed the following mini-workouts to be quick and office-friendly. Do at least one move from each category. QUICK BURSTS Do one of the following aerobic activities for 1 to 3 minutes: Stairs....

Take Care When The Temp Drops On chilly days, some of us need to take extra precautions before venturing out for cardio exercise. If you have any kind of heart problem, for example, you should consult your doctor before working out in the cold. As the air temperature drops, your body responds by constricting blood vessels, a process that pulls blood toward the trunk to feed your internal organs. When this happens, exercising puts extra strain on your heart as it tries to pump blood to your extremities....

protein option, I decided to mix in some white cannellini beans to boost the protein and fiber content of the dish. Once they are fully pureed, you can’t even tell that they’re in there! Not that I would mind…I certainly love cannellini beans in any dish, but I also like that this recipe allows the eater to indulge in a comforting winter favorite without sacrificing nutrition the traditional flavor. Note: I like to leave the potato peels on in dishes like this....

Your Toning Program Do two 30-second sets of each exercise. Work up to 1-minute sets. Keep the movements slow and controlled; rest for 30 to 60 seconds between sets. Do two or three sessions a week. (For best results, do daily sessions; this is safe because you’re only lifting your body weight.) Crisscross Plank with Knee Touch

MORE: What Happens When A Food Blogger Admits To An Eating Disorder

But before you wipe away your milk mustache forever, though, consider the lighter side: low-fat and skim milk. A cup of low-fat (1%) milk gets only 23% of its calories from fat. Skim milk (also called nonfat or fat-free) is the ultimate, with virtually no fat. Both skim and low-fat milk are two of the cheapest, easiest ways to help fulfill your daily requirements for a variety of important nutrients....

[sidebar]In a study at Tufts University in Boston, researchers took 46 people with arthritis (who reported significant amounts of pain) and divided them into a strength training group and a non-strength training group. After 4 months, the exercise group reported a 43% decrease in pain compared to only 12% of the non-exercisers. The strength training group also reported a 44% increase in physical improvement. Researchers found that strength training just three times a week improves physical function and decreases pain....

Lift Weights, Lose WeightThe major culprit behind your metabolism meltdown is muscle loss. Your metabolism is nothing more than how much energy—or calories—your body uses, even while just sleeping, breathing, or thinking. One of the main factors that determines your daily calorie burn is the amount of muscle you have. Muscle tissue is more “active” than fat tissue, with each pound burning about 30 calories a day just to sustain itself....

But it turns out that some less expected factors—like how quickly you get dressed in the morning, the amount of carbs you eat, or whether you snore—can also affect your BO, breath, gassiness, and more. Here’s how to fix it, fast. You don’t towel off after showering A speedy postshower rubdown may end up causing a problem later on. That’s because moisture can get trapped between folds of skin, like below your breasts, under your love handles, or even between your toes, says Marina Peredo, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in private practice in Smithtown, NY....

They found that taking omega-3 supplements helped slow the body’s aging process by lengthening telomeres—parts of DNA in white blood cells that naturally shorten over time. Telomeres act like caps at the ends of chromosomes, so if they shorten, the DNA can unravel, which means major bad news for your cells. Another plus? Omega-3 supplements were also shown to lower inflammation levels in the same study. Researchers believe that the less inflammation, the better for the preservation of telomeres....

You argue, but nobody ever wins. It can feel like debating whether Christmas is more awesome than Halloween. You’re talking about personal preference, right? To some degree, sure. Men and women are built differently, and they have very different ideas about what constitutes a “comfortable” temperature. MORE: 5 Scientific Reasons to Sleep Buck Naked You probably notice it at the office. If somebody is complaining that it’s too cold, it’s probably not a guy....

Thing is, resolving to start with a clean slate of limiting sweets after a sugar binge tends to be a lot tougher than actually doing it—and it’s not just because you lack willpower. Research suggests that the glycemic impact of the foods you eat at one meal can last for up to 14 hours and influence what you decide to eat for your next meal. Of course, there’s a mental thing at play, too....

But here’s a grain of good environmental news, for a change: the public health policies banning flame retardants seem to be working. A decade ago, California banned a class of flame retardants called polybrominated dipenyl esters (PBDEs), and the rest of the country followed suit. Today, research published online in Environmental Science & Technology found that levels of these flame retardants have rapidly declined in pregnant women’s blood. In 2008-2009, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco tested the blood of 25 women....

There is a proven direct link between sex and exercise. When you exercise, the brain produces endorphins that stimulate the release of sex hormones. These hormones reduce your heart rate, improve digestion, lower blood pressure and cortisol levels and relax the body. Oh, and you also might just feel primed and ready for a little one-on-one time in the bedroom. Sexual benefits of fitness Cardio: Cardiovascular exercise, such as running, rollerblading or even a pick-up game of basketball can rev up beta-endorphins, which will cause your heart to race and your blood to flow to all the right places....

Think twice before you turn on the tap. While it may not be obvious in the comfort of your own home, we’re in the middle of a global water crisis that scientists say will leave half of the world’s population without access to clean water by 2025. One simple way to help: Eat less meat. Check out three more easy ways to conserve water. Make the most out of your vacation....

Researchers studied fat from patients undergoing surgery for prostate disease and found that overweight men had different levels of gene activity in the fat surrounding their prostates compared with lean men. These altered genes were shown to foster fat growth and the formation of new blood vessels, which produces a favorable environment for prostate cancer growth. More from Prevention: Are Overweight Patients Discriminated Against? Here’s where you come in: It’s often up to the women in relationships to take on the role of the health advocate, according to another study that came out earlier this year....

To reach this conclusion, researchers teamed up with an upscale restaurant and presented 139 people with a menu that offered an all-you-can-eat buffet for either $4 or $8. Both groups ate about the same amount, but the people who paid $8 reported enjoying their food 11% more, while those who paid $4 reported feeling like they’d overeaten and feeling more guilty about the meal overall. “We were surprised to find that pricing has very little impact on how much someone eats, but a huge impact on how they interpret their experience and enjoy their food,” says Ozge Sigirci, study coauthor and researcher at Cornell’s Food & Brand Lab....

Trouble is, by not exposing yourself to doing something wrong, you’re missing out on the chance to learn constructively from feedback, says Andrea Bonior, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist in Washington, DC. You also take fewer risks, which means you might have fewer failures, but you also may have fewer big wins. Sound familiar? Here are three times you’re likely to mess up—and how to make your inner perfectionist okay with that....